Ixis awoke with her Oathed curled up beside her.

Hydra was snoring softly, Dra with her mouth open while Hyde was growling in his sleep. She wanted to cry. Everything that had happened the last few days made her want to curl up in a ball and never wake up. All of the Undercity had seen Aria's light. Not a single person in her home recognised who she was. Except for Rider and her Oathed.

Ixis had begged and pleaded with her parents to remember who she was until the door slammed in her face. She had thought being yelled at by her mother was the worst day of her life but seeing her father that terrified of her made her long for just a spark of a memory. Everything felt hollow now.

"Ixy? Are you awake?"

It took her a moment to recognise the harsh rasp of a Shadow Traited. Rider's head was bound in a crudely made set of bandages while leaning on what looked like a plank that had been ripped out of the floor. But the weirdest thing wasn't her injuries or her carefree nature but the fact she wasn't wearing black. Her hat was hung up on a stray nail, the signature jacket slumped beneath it while the ramshackle house with the crooked floor swayed slightly.

"Yeah."

"Well, I made some food if you want it?"

Ixis didn't know what to say. Rider's sudden homemaker mode seemed to mask her own pain but she wobbly made her way towards the teeny kitchen and waited for what concoction she had come up with. The half broken cupboards were barely hung onto the wall, the doors haphazardly screwed on by a drunkard.

"You'll be happy to know the demons have moved on a few days ago. Found this place still intact yesterday and Night helped fix it up. Skyla and I used to use it as a base before...well, before Scholar's Keep."

Ixis barely replied with anything more than grunts and groans, distracting herself with the greevy burgers. The potato-like crop was really cheap and really tasty but all Ixis could think about was how alone she was all because she got mixed up in Rider's mess.

"I know it's not the same as Peddler's Inn or even your room in Opalis but, it's something. I know it's rough right now with-"

"How would you even begin to know how I feel! You don't even have family-"

Hydra growled loudly, Ixis clamping her hand over her mouth before she even finished her sentence. Her Oathed glared at her accusingly, bounding onto the wobbly table the size of a cup while they greeted the other dragon with a flick of their tail. Night let out a husky laugh, sliding over his own plate of food before jumping onto Rider's shoulder and curled around her neck.

But all Rider did was smile. She set her own chipped plate onto the table, splitting half with her dragon for the first time in years and took a bite. She didn't say a word. Ixis tried to read her expression but with Night by her side she was nothing except content. Until the obvious answer was the only one left.

"You've done this before?"

Rider nodded, mouth full.

"How many times..."

"That's not an answer you want to know right now."

Ixis was taken aback by the blunt reply and tried to reword it better.

"How many times have we..?"

Rider shook her head, her dragon snapping his slice in two in an instant. Ixis' patience was at her limit, scorching the bottom of the already stained table.

"You betrayed me! You used me to get to Aria! I deserve an answer at least!"

"And you betrayed me. You really thought I didn't know your game? I wasn't just a player in your plan, I invented it."

Ixis dropped her fork in shock.

Rider folded her hands, her fingers threaded together like waiting for an answer about a job interview instead of threatening someone who could burn the whole place to the ground. But she wasn't being cruel or acting out of anger. All she did was state fact.

"You knew. You knew long before you restored my memories-"

"No. But it seems we just keep learning the same lesson, Ixis. It isn't just your parents who have forgotten us. Skyla. Nate. Chase. Gizmo. Everyone in the damn Undercity who saw that nuclear blast of light. It was just luck that your Oathed was asleep when it happened." Night said, his voice a strange mix of warmth and harshness that Ixis had heard only in a memory.

"Then how...how were we...your grimoire. I was in close range. It protected me. That's why you needed Night. He's immune from being Aria's Agar. You didn't want power, you wanted...not to forget. Just like any Traited."

Rider's mouth tweaked upwards at her own words being spoken back at her. Ixis stabbed her fork into the last of her greevy burger, savouring the taste before Hydra could scarf it down.

"Only thing is, I don't know how to fuckin' use it. Restoring memories is supposed to be my thing but...I have no idea how." Night admitted, speaking on behalf of his Oathed who currently had her mouth full.

"So, what do we do? I can't leave my family like this-"

"You must. If we try to force them it'll just make things worse. They'll remember in time but it needs to happen naturally."

Hydra snapped at the dragon's bullshit, Dra being far more outspoken than her introverted brother.

"How would you know?"

Ixis felt the dejavu from a mile away, Rider merely raising an eyebrow at the Scale Screamer. It only took a single glance for her to realise how many people Aria's actions had affected. That same explosion of light from Aria's grimoire had happened in the biggest city in Opalis. Which meant Aria had done it willingly and had forced every, single person who saw that light to forget everything about Rider and painted her in the worst light she could.

"I'm sorry. I didn't.." Ixis began, the sheer scale of Aria's machinations making her sick to her stomach.

"It's alright. I just have a bad habit of ending up near the same place each time. Maybe now I know that Ethros is there, that's the reason why." Night said bitterly, attempting to explain as best she could without getting angry.

The amount of guilt that weighed on her shoulders was unimaginable.

"That bastard."

It was all Ixis could say. Her hand brushed against Rider's comfortingly but she burst out laughing, the sheer ridiculousness of Ethros' actions turning her joyous laugh to mania. The mania twisted into sobs of pure anguish no matter how Night tried to soothe her. Ixis immediately jumped up from her seat at the sight of Rider screaming her lungs raw, her own emotions overflowing with tears while they hugged tight on the hard floorboards.

"Rider?"

Night's voice was so small despite his size now dwarfing the entire kitchen. The table had been knocked over while both Ixis and the two dragons tried to restrain her, Rider furiously trying to expel some anger by slamming her fists behind her. For the first time since they met Ixis had no idea what to do.

She gently rubbed her hands against Rider's scraped knuckles, trying to heal what she could with her dwindling Fire Trait but Rider couldn't stop herself. It took several minutes for her to calm down, her heavy breathing still expelling angrily.

"I'll kill him. I don't care if he was my Agar or your brother or what. I'll fuckin' kill him myself or die trying."

Ixis held her from behind, resting her head against the sink door. Her hand was laced with her, Rider sitting on her lap like a tantruming child but she had settled far better with the two dragons supporting them from behind. They sat in silence for several minutes in their own company, gently exploring what little moments of intimacy they could allow.

Rider wanting revenge would have startled anyone into deterring her from that path but Ixis wasn't that person anymore. The shy, obedient Regent she had been mere days ago seemed like a callous dream that Aria had dreamed up to taunt her. But unlike the Throneholder, Rider's memories did not lie.

She passed the Shadow Traited one of her many cigarettes, lighting it long before Rider needed to ask. Ixis snatched one for herself, the rush of colliding memories easing just a little the moment the nicotine hit. After all the shit Ixis had seen she was glad to find she hadn't been addicted to anything else. Yet.

"Well, then, Captain. Night Force or not, you're gonna need one hell of a Regent."

Ixis took the earlier advice and made a choice for herself since the moment she had agreed to working with this stubborn, selfless, infuriatingly complicated Shadow Traited. Rider looked up at her with those same, fiery blue eyes and Ixis kissed her. She cursed inwardly, already having to add another addiction to her list. Rider grinned, not needing to say a word but the intention was clear. It seemed Ixis would have to do the talking in this relationship. Just in case. Rider kissed her right back and they stayed together until the morning. Ixis finally got the last word.

"I'll take that as a yes."